Scienceisadominantthemeinourculture.Sinceittouchesalmosteveryfacetofourlife,educatedpeopleneedatleastsomeacquaintancewithitsstructureandoperation.Theyshouldalsohaveanunderstandingofthesubcultureinwhichscientistsliveandthekindsofpeopletheyare.Anunderstandingofgeneralcharacteristicsofscienceaswellasspecificscientificconceptsiseasiertoattainifoneknowssomethingaboutthethingsthatexciteandfrustratethescientist. Thisbookiswrittenfortheintelligentstudentoflaypersonwhoseacquaintancewithscienceissuperficial;forthepersonwhohasbeenpresentedwithscienceasamustystorehouseofdriedfacts;forthepersonwhohasbeenpresentedwithscienceastheproductionofgadgets;andforthepersonwhoviewsthescientistsassomesortofmagician.Thebookcanbeusedtosupplementacourseinanyscience,toaccompanyanycoursethatattemptstogiveanunderstandingofthemodernworld,orindependentlyofanycourse—simplytoprovideabetterunderstandingofscience.Wehopethisbookwillleadreaderstoabroaderperspectiveonscientificattitudesandamorerealisticviewofwhatscienceis,whoscientistsare,andwhattheydo.Itwillgivethemanawarenessandunderstandingoftherelationshipbetweenscienceandourcultureandanappreciationoftherolessciencemayplayinourculture.Inaddition,readersmaylearntoappreciatetherelationshipbetweenscientificviewsandsomeofthevaluesandphilosophiesthatarepervasiveinourculture. Wehavetriedtopresentinthisbookanaccurateandup-to-datepictureofthescientificcommunityandthepeoplewhopopulatedit.Thatpopulationhasinrecentyearscometocomprisemoreandmorewomen.Thisincreasingroleofwomeninthescientificsubcultureisnotauniqueincidentbut,rather,partofthetrendevidentinallsegmentsofsocietyasmorewomenentertraditionallymale-dominatedfieldsandmakesignificantcontributions.Indiscussingthesechangesandcontribution,however,wearefacedwithalanguagethatisimplicitlysexist,onethatusesmalenounsorpronounsinreferringtounspecifiedindividuals.Tooffsetthisbuilt-inbias,wehaveadoptedthepolicyofusingpluralnounsandpronounswheneverpossibleand,whenabsolutelynecessary,alternatingheandshe.Thispolicyisfarfrombeingideal,butitisatleastanacknowledgmentoftheinadequacyofourlanguageintreatinghalfofthehumanequally. Wehavealsotriedtomakethebookentertainingaswellasinformative.Ourapproachisusuallyinformal.Wefeel,asdomanyotherscientists,thatweshouldn’ttakeourselvestooseriously.Asthereadermayobserve,weseescienceasadelightfulpastimethanasagrimanddrearywaytoearnaliving. Accordingtothispassage,_____.
A.English is a sexist language
B.only in this scientific world is the role of women increasing rapidly
C.women are making significant contributions to eliminating the inadequacy of our language
D.male nouns or pronouns should not used to refer to scientists
正确答案是D